GERMANY

Swimming dominates the headlines on Monday.

In a convincing win, Yannick Agnel triumphed in the men's 200 meter freestyle to win the gold medal for France.

France produces more than 16 million tons of foie gras every year, principally by force-feeding corn to ducks and geese in order to enlarge their livers.

The week is chock-full with data releases that will confirm if the summer malaise continued in July. As always, Friday's employment report will carry the most weight. Another highlight of this week is the much anticipated Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some blame oil. Others blame a loss of pleasure in the roads. Researchers call it “peak travel.” Whatever the reason, one thing's clear: Americans are not driving their cars as far away from home as they used to.

As the sales of recorded music plummets with the rise of media piracy, the artist-fan relationship is getting personal.

Most of the Asian markets fell in the week following the revival of the investor concerns about the deepening debt burden faced by the euro zone and worsening global economic growth.

If Apple and Samsung were people instead of corporations they would get along about as well as the Hatfields and McCoys. That is to say they'd probably take up arms against each other.

Rationing was so severe, that British athletes were forced to consume whale meat for sustenance.

Gold futures steadied over $1,600 per ounce Thursday, breaking above a level the precious metal had not seen since early July.

The Spanish crisis, last week’s German vote, talk of a possible withholding of funds for Greece, and now the downgrading of the credit outlook for Europe’s strongest economies, point to a worsening of the financial crisis, a reduction in support for the euro, and a global economy increasing at risk.

Syria is one of the few countries on the planet to have a large stockpile of some of the deadliest substances known to man. What's it doing with them now?

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 will not be sold in the European Union after courts ruled that the Samsung tablet bears too much resemblance to the Apple iPad. This ruling comes at poor time for Samsung, as Apples iPad Mini and iPhone 5 rumors create buzz on the internet.

Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), the world's largest social networking platform, is expected to post a profit in its first quarter as a publicly traded company following revenue growth in the April-through-June period.

Last week's Batman massacre, allegedly carried out by a 24-year-old aspiring scientist who dyed his hair orange and called himself The Joker, has rekindled old arguments over the effects of violent movies on children.

Sony Computer Entertainment will not be announcing it's latest and most-likely final iteration of the Playstation 3 console next month at the Gamescom trade show in Germany, several sources confirm. But while the pricing for the PS3-4000 are still heavily rumored, some details on the new models have been confirmed.

U.S. stock index futures point to a flat opening Tuesday as investor sentiment continue to be affected by the mounting borrowing costs faced by Spain and worsening economic condition of Greece.

Asian stock markets advanced slightly Tuesday after a report showed that Chinese factory activity in July grew at its fastest pace since February.

Crude oil futures advanced Tuesday as fears over a sharp growth slowdown in the world’s second largest economy slightly eased after a report showed that Chinese factory activity in July grew at its fastest pace in five months.

A new report hit the web Monday citing source close to Samsung, who apparently confirmed that the Galaxy Note 2 would indeed be unveiled in August, but not on the previously rumored date, but on August 15.

Most Asian markets fell Tuesday as investor sentiment was dragged down by the continuing concerns over the debt burden lingering over the euro zone.